Coffee
by Mackena
Summary: Is she really over him? LK
1. Meetings

It was a cold morning, the first truly cold morning of the season. The type of morning that demanded coffee. As Lily and Scotty sat in the cafe, it seemed as if the entire Philadelphia justice system had had the same idea. Even the district attorneys. She was used to seeing him around. They worked together and were always bumping into each other at various shops and restaurants. She had accepted the inevitability of seeing him. She had almost gotten use to seeing him everyday without having him in her life. And today Kite stood ten feet from her waiting for his drink. But today was different, today he wasn't alone. Instead a younger woman stood next to him. Her whole look screamed polished, from her impossibly shiny hair in a flawless bun, to her trendy trench, and classic sling backs. They were standing close, deep in some conversation that had a smile on both of their faces. They had an ease around each other that screamed they were involved. It only took a moment for his eye to catch Lily's and quickly the twinkle left. His companion immediately picked up on it and soon she too was staring at Lily.

Lily felt her blood boil and her eyes narrow. She hated this person without any reason attached to it.

"Lil, do you want to go?" Scotty had obviously noticed the cause of Lily's stare and as always, he was the gentleman attempting to protect her from harm. He knew how hard the break up with Kite had been, even if Lily wouldn't talk about it. But today he was too late, Kite was already half way to the table.

"Lily, Scotty," he said, nodding to each. Lily curtly nodded back and Scotty took his cue from her. The situation was more than awkward and became more so as she appeared at his side holding their drinks

"Hi," she stood next to him, all perfect posture and brilliant smile, the epitome of good society, Lily thought bitterly. She probably never ate French fries for a meal and if she had animals they were probably flawless purebreds. If that was what he wanted, he could have it.

"You got our coffee great! Let's_ go_." Kite made no motion to introduce anyone. But instead of leaving, she extended her hand.

"I'm Charlotte."

"Scotty and this is Lily" Scotty supplied, clearly knowing Lily would not exchange a word with this women. The silence reigned once again as she dropped her hand. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and then glanced at each of the detectives.

"Do you worked with Jason?" she asked brightly.

So he's Jason to her. Probably never would call someone by their last name without a mister before it! Lily could feel herself becoming more and more irrational, but she simply didn't care

"Sort of, we're detectives." Scotty replied

"Oh." Charlotte's eyes shifted to Lily and grew slightly, "Oooohhhhhh!" Lily eyes narrowed again and she wondered what exactly Kite had said about her. Well she could tell her a hundred ways Kite hadn't been perfect if little Miss Society wanted to play that game!

"Ummm… we better be going, Lotte" Kite was clearly uncomfortable with the conversation and started to head for the door. Lily took satisfaction in the fact that he had backed down first. But again instead of following him Charlotte stood firmly planted, her eyes twinkling with mischief. She leaned slightly closer to Lily.

"He's taking me to the airport. Isn't that so thoughtful? I'm fine just taking a taxi, but he insists! I mean he'll be late to work as it is, not mentioning traffic, but he still insists. But, I guess what else are brothers for, right?" Lily almost choked on her victory swig of coffee.

"You're siblings?" Scotty asked the shock Lily felt showing on his face.

"Oh yes! You didn't think…?" she let out a small laugh "Well we_ really_ must be going, but was a pleasure to meet both of you." With that she turned on her heel and walked towards an obviously distraught Kite.

"Wow, didn't you think?"

"Yeah. You ready?" Lily had already stood up. Her relief that this woman was not replacing her was almost more upsetting than her initial anger. Why did she even care?


	2. I'm over her

Lily stared out the window as they drove through Norristown, her brow furrowed.

"Want to talk about it?" Scotty said after enduring twenty minutes of silence.

"Talk about what?"

"Whatever got you so preoccupied. If I had to guess it's about 6' 2", brown hair and currently at the DAs Office"

"What?... Kite?... Kite and I are over" she sat up and mustered her best look of disbelief. But she knew Scotty was too perceptive for that, especially when she saw his smirk.

"All I'm saying is that I was at the coffee shop this morning. You weren't exactly inviting that girl to sit down and join us."

Lily knew fighting with him was pointless. She_ had_ been upset about seeing Kite with another woman. And she knew how pathetic that was. They had broken up almost a year and a half ago, and yet she hadn't seriously dated anyone since. It seemed every guy she met fell short of Kite in some fashion. Not that she was romanticizing Kite. They had definitely had their problems and he wasn't perfect. She knew she wasn't always easy to deal either. The job took up a major part of her life, and she didn't easily share herself with people. She had simply been hurt too many times before. But he was different somehow. She had been starting to trust him. And for all her independence, she had enjoyed coming home to him. She had not expected the breakup, but once the shock wore off, she realized how hurt she was. But it upset her even more that she was still smarting from it. Lily hated feeling vulnerable, hated being controlled by anyone and he still had a hold over her. She looked over at Scotty, who just sat there with an expectant smile on his face.

"I don't know Scotty… He just... I miss him."

"Well have you tried telling him that?"

"Scotty, he broke up with _me._ Besides it's been a_ year and a half_. Maybe he's not with her, but he's sure as hell hasn't been waiting for me."

"Lil, it's your call but I didn't see I'm-completely-over-you written on his face today."

* * *

There was nothing like opening a cold beer after a hard day. And today was definitely a hard day. In fact there had been a lot more of those days in the past year. Seeing Lily was always a little difficult for him, but having his sister there made it worse. Even though she had never met Lily, she had immediately liked her. Charlotte was a lot like Lily: stubborn, loyal, and practically married to her job. So when he told Charlotte that they had broken up, she told him it no uncertain terms what she thought of him. 

He was being ridiculous. Lily was wonderful, and brought out the best in him. She had simply been comforting a guy who had lost the love of his life. So what if he had gotten her full attention that night? If he was that jealous, it was his problem. Had he ever heard of communication as a tool of solving relationship issues? For once in his life he was dating someone with a higher IQ than her cup size and he ran at the first sign of trouble.

He cringed just thinking of her words. For months she has started every conversation with "Are you two back together, yet?" Just recently he had come close to convincing her that she was over blowing the whole situation, but the little meeting in the coffee shop surely ended that. He wished Charlotte had just gotten the drinks, walked right past the table and gotten into the car like he had asked. But she was too smart for that. And the second they were in his car, he had got what was coming to him

"_I always liked her for you. She seemed perfect – smart and tough, but giving and a little vulnerable too. But more than that, it was the way you talked about her. I could hear that she was different than every other girl. I could hear the sadness when you broke up. I want you to have someone and, selfishly, I wouldn't mind having a half decent sister-in-law. Yet you have done everything to convince me that my view of the two of you had no base in reality and was just wishful thinking. __But seeing the two of you today, it's clear she not over you and you're so not over her. And you better believe I'm not going to drop this now. You're a damn fool if you let something so precious go to waste."_

He had brushed it off with some snide comment, but he knew she was right on every count. But there was nothing he could do. Lily had never been that invested in him. He may have broken up with her, but she hadn't even wanted a relationship with him. He practically had to force her to go on a date or to commit to them. Besides they had only been serious for a month. One lousy month. He just had to move on. He was pathetic mooning over it. It's was over.

Looking at his bottle of beer he knew his excuses were hollow. He knew Lily would have brushed him off from the start if she wasn't interested. Their little dance had been fun for both of them and she had wanted to be couple as much as he had. He couldn't really explain why he had broken up with her. Perhaps he was scared, maybe jealous of the attention she paid to her job. But it didn't really matter because he knew it was his own fault he was alone tonight. But it was much easier to blame her.

He sat down on his couch and placed his head in his hands. Whenever he thought about Lily, he always ended up so torn up, so frustrated. He stood up quickly. Things couldn't go on like this. Grabbing his keys and jacket, he headed for an answer.


	3. In the dark

The silence in the house was comforting to her. All day long she was surrounded by noise: by confessions, by denials, by secrets being spilled. Every time a case was solved, she knew it was made a difference to someone. But even justice could never quite erase the fact that she knew how cruel people could be, knew the damage they could do to each other. Sometimes she liked to sit alone in the dark, removed from all the pain that was embedded in her job. Other times she wished she had someone to come home to. But it seemed that being a homicide detective and having a healthy relationship were at inherent odds with each other. And as always, she put her job first. Which explained the reason she was sitting alone, in the dark, on yet another night.

The knock on the door surprised her. People rarely came to her door, especially at late hours. She toyed with the idea of not answering it. But the knocking became more incessant, and the curiosity was too much for her. She slowly pulled her self off the couch, nervously smoothly her hair with her hand. She almost forgot to turn on a light, and only remember as she her hand was on the door. No reason the person knocking on her door with such passion had to know she had been sitting with the lights off. She slowly pulled the door open to see Kite, looking as causal as possible, standing on the other side.

"I wasn't sure you were home. No lights" he offered, his causal stance doing a poor job of masking his nervousness.

"No, I'm home," she blushed slightly, "I mean of course I'm home" She looked down, realizing how ridiculous she was. Why was she so nervous? The silence this time was far from comforting, instead it was stifling.

"Rush as much as I like your stoop, any possibility I can come in?" A full blush crept into Lily's creeks as she stepped aside to let him in. He walked confidently over to the couch and sat down next to Olivia. Kite quietly murmured to the animal as it jumped confidently into his lap. Lilly still stood by the door unsure of what to do. Having Kite sitting on her couch, petting her cat, and looking quite at home was an unsettling experience. He looked so good there, with his tousled hair and jeans.

"There's plenty of room on the couch, Rush. Unless you like standing by the door?" his face lit up with that cocky smile that should have infuriated her but instead it made her feel stomach flutter in a way she wasn't completely comfortable with. She pushed herself off the wall and sat down on the far end of the couch.

"He usually doesn't like people," Lily said pointing towards the cat, her vain attempt at conversation. Two people, who made a living talking, couldn't think of a thing to say to each other. The room fell back into the uneasy silence punctured only by soft purrs.

"I bet your wondering what I'm doing here." Kite said softy not looking up from the cat.

"The thought crossed my mind," she joked with more bravado then she felt.

"I wanted to make sure that you didn't get the wrong expression at the coffee shop," He briefly looked up and looked eye with her.

"No. I mean it was just your sister. Not that it would matter if it wasn't...your…sister." They both looked sheepishly away,

"I just thought you should know. She was in town, for my mom's birthday. It was a big to-do, all the kids were there," He laughed at himself giving her a sideways glance and then staring at his hands with an uneasy laugh, "and you could care less about my mother's birthday." But when he looked up, she too was smiling,

"No, I think that's….sweet. I only ever knew about the one brother…."

"Two brothers, and then Charlotte. Both the brothers are married, so with wives and kids it's a big family. Everyone's a little insane, but good people"

"Sounds fun, "Her smile matched his own. She could almost picture the Kite family, all with his easy smile, seated around a dinner table, all laughing. It made her yearn for the type of family she would never have.

"It was. We don't get together often enough," he looked at her with a full blown smile. Their gaze this time was easy, but she felt her stomach tighten. He must have felt it as well, because they both broke the gaze. By this time Olivia had hopped from Kite's lap to curl up somewhere more quiet. He slowly stood up and turned to face her.

"I just wanted you to know. So there would be no confusion. So… I'll see you around, Rush" she looked at his face, which as still lit with a smile, but the smile had a nervous edge to it. He turned to walk away, and she felt like she had to say something.

" Kite?" he turned around, and she realized she had nothing else planned to say. She licked her lips as she stood up and when she looked into his eyes, she saw them lined with hope. She laughed nervously.

" I know things didn't end well between us and that it was mostly…or completely… my fault. And I'm sorry," she looked up from the circle she had been tracing with her foot with a smile, and was rewarded with his goofy smile. She smiled back and uneasily wiped a piece of hair from her face. He took a step closer to her and placed his hand lightly on her chin, drawing her face back to look at him

"It wasn't all your fault," he whispered," I may have been slightly jealous."

"Jealous? Really?"

"Maybe a little. Of your job. Your commitment to it…over me" he moved slightly closer.

"I want it to be you," she could feel his breath on her lips. She had been told the best part of kissing was the anticipation, but she couldn't stand it anymore. She quickly closed the distance between them. The kiss was passionate but with the underlying tenderness of two people who already knew each other. When they had to break apart from need for air, she rested her forehead gently on his.

"I lied early. I'm glad she was just your sister," Lily whispered

"I'm glad you're not," Lily retort about his corniness was cut off as he initiated another kiss.


End file.
